


Dad Sneezes

by Blackmoondragon1415



Series: Ups and Downs [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: And To His Dignity, And Will Never Escape This Label, BATIM Role Reversal AU, But not today, Eventually He Will Accept It, Gen, Henry and the Ink Machine Universe, Henry is a dad, Kids Employing Unneeded First Aid, RIP To Henry's Nose, Some Silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:00:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28952334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackmoondragon1415/pseuds/Blackmoondragon1415
Summary: A funny little story set before the events of Ups and Downs, inspired partially by a picture I found on Pinterest. Turns out Henry does at least have the proper kind of sneezes to be considered a dad.
Series: Ups and Downs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2131800
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Dad Sneezes

"So, why'dya gotta make all the shapes?"

"So it looks like it's livin' an' not all flat. Shapes make it pop off'a th' page!"

"Ah, gotcha."

The quiet but no less enthusiastic conversation happening behind Henry was a calming background lull to his ears as he worked, semi-lost in concentration as he sketched out a new frame. Faintly, he could hear the other animators talking away in the next room, somebody whistling some jaunty tune as they worked. Occasionally squeaking its way into prominence was the sound of Wally's bucket, the janitor pushing it across the floor as he cleaned.

While Wally was able to keep something of a lid on the dirt and grime that threatened the studio, there were certain corners, like the one that Henry's office currently occupied, that the dust had managed to creep in. It was enough that, with the next faint draft that rattled through the thin walls, the animator's nose started to twitch, Henry unable to stop the thunderclap of a sneeze that rattled the tiny office and caused a complete hush to fall around him.

Realizing that he'd single-handedly silenced the animation floor, Henry turned with a hand covering his mouth and nose just in case another sneeze was on the way, only to make eye contact with the owlishly wide eyes of the two toons, pie-cut pupils mere dots in equal parts shock and complete bewilderment. Bendy had thrown himself into Boris's lap, the wolf having closed his arms around the smaller toon despite the notebook in the way. Both resembled startled cats with how they huddled together, staring at the animator like he'd just taken center stage in some gruesome accident.

"S-Sorry, guys, I just-."

"Henry, did your face just explode?!" Bendy shrieked, his voice echoing about in the dead quiet. The sudden shrill tone completely cut off and silenced the animator in one fell stroke and caused a few voices in the other room to break out in peals of laughter. Henry could maybe pick out Wally and Louie among the gigglers, though at the moment the more pressing issue was the fact that he could feel another sneeze building in the back of his nasal cavity. It clued the animator into the fact that perhaps keeping his hand in front of his face wasn't such a swell idea, though even with all of the little factors steadily making this a comedy of errors Henry still tried to calm the pair down.

"Ben, Boris, it's o-okay, I jus', I j-jus'-." The attempt at speech cut off into another crash of a sneeze, the pair nearly leaping a foot in the air with twin yelps. Before Henry could even recover his tongue, Bendy and Boris sprang to their feet, dashing over to the animator and doing their best to help with what they saw as a serious catastrophe.

"H-Henry, don' move, okay? I don' think you're s'pposed t'move when you've exploded somethin', Boris, get, get somebody!" Bendy hollered, gloved hands revolving between holding onto either Henry's arms or pressing Henry's hand further into his face in a misguided attempt at first aid.

"A-Alright, alright! 'm goin'!" The wolf yipped, dashing to nearly fly around the corner into the animation foyer. However Boris hardly got far, as a familiar, booming voice sounded from the entryway, the wolf reappearing a moment later accompanied a burly, dark-haired man steering him with an arm round the taller toon's shoulders. In a complete contrast to the pair, a cheered smile beamed out from under a dark mustache. Well, Henry had to ruminate, if anyone were to find some level of humor from this, it would be Louie. Him and Sammy…god, he hoped the music director never heard about this…

"Boris, _lupetto_ , be calm. Henry is fine, not hurt at all." Louie alleviated, punctuating the baritone with a gesture to the smaller frame of Henry still stuck in his seat partially because Bendy was just about sitting on him with the effort of trying to keep the animator's hand pressed to his 'injury'.

"H-He's not?" Boris asked, Bendy making a perplexed whine of a noise as the pair drew near.

"No, he is not. Let his arm go, Bendy, he just needs one of these." The other man's flourish of a gesture drew out a plain handkerchief, which Henry hurriedly grabbed and mopped up a greenish bit of mucus now stuck to the lower half of his face. At the sight the devil bristled, turning worried pie-cut eyes up to still-unperturbed brown.

"Lou-ie…He's leakin' goop, that can't be okay!"

"It is alright, _cucciolo_. Sneezing just means that Henry needs to get the goop to come out, not stay in. Can see why, this office is horribly dusty…"

"Th…That was a sneeze?" Boris asked, Bendy echoing the wolf's confusion as the pair aimed equally perplexed stares from Henry to Louie, the latter man chuckling at their bemusement. Henry, for his part, tried to give a nod while blowing his nose.

"Indeed, it was. Henry probably ought to get out of this office more, let Wally do some cleaning in here."

"But, that can't have been a sneeze! My sneezes don' sound like that!" Bendy rebutted, tone turning skeptical as the devil folded his arms and beamed a suspicious frown up at Louie. The dark-eyed man countered it with an upraised eyebrow, his expression signaling back a query of 'are you sure?' to the smaller toon. It had never failed before, and given how Bendy's firm denial started to falter a moment later it seemed as though its track record remained unbroken.

"Ah, your sneezes don't, but Henry is not you, is he? So, things may be a little different, see? Does not mean it is wrong, just different. Nothing the matter with different. However…" Henry found himself freezing slightly as Louie's attention turned to him next, the older man pointing a meaty finger in the younger animator's direction. "…you are coming out so Wally can clean up some of this dust! Bring your frames, Henry! You will be joining the rest of us today!"

At the booming declaration, a chorus of cries bubbled up from the small crowd in the other room, with calls of 'C'mon Henry' standing out the most among the racket. Though the younger animator wasn't entirely primed to go out and work in the animation foyer, with reasons as to the integrity of the overhead pipes to the overall unfamiliarity of working in a group coming to mind, he did have to admit that Louie had a point regarding the cleanliness of his 'office'. Still it didn't seem as though the minor case of nerves was limited to just Henry, as both Bendy and Boris seemed physically drawn back into the relative safety that the little nook offered.

 _Joey said there's bad people out there_. Bendy had let that slip immediately after meeting Henry, once things had calmed down from the devil's surprise entrance. And, while the animator could say that it was probably good to at least try to teach the young-minded toons about potential dangers they could encounter (Henry knew that he couldn't properly vet every employee or worker coming into the studio), this didn't seem entirely healthy. To him, this fear was starting to look a lot more like a form of paranoia, not to mention the last thing he wanted was for the pair to be too afraid to venture out of Joey's office.

…But, they both trusted him, which meant that if he were to take a first step, they'd likely follow along. And, at the very least, Henry could still keep an eye on them in the foyer.

"Alright." Henry finally said with a heavy sigh, trying to gather up his frames while getting out of his chair. Louie, at the very least, decided to make it easier for him by grabbing his pen and inkwell. The toons were looking between the two men with quiet puzzlement and tension, though Boris was more open about it. Bendy's expression was closed, though Henry could tell the devil wasn't entirely happy about the prospect by the way his tail was flicking like an upset cat.

"Is this fine with you two? You can wait-." The second sentence was barely out of Henry's mouth when Bendy seemed to find his voice, quickly speaking up.

"No, we wanna stay with you." The devil hurriedly glanced up at Boris to confirm, though the taller toon hardly had any objections himself.

"Y-Yeah, can we, please?"

"Of course. Come on and I'll see if we can find you two somewhere to sit." Henry started, though Louie already seemed to have an idea of how to help.

"Not to worry, Henry, they can sit right next to you as you work! The boys won't mind at all!"

Henry tried to remember if they had any new hires among them. He was mostly good with noticing when someone didn't come back, heck, more often than not they'd come to him or Louie to announce that they were leaving rather than go to Joey. Didn't mean he couldn't have missed something though…

Still, the arrival of the unofficial head of the animation department caused something of a cheer to go up through the group of animators in the foyer, the ten or so faces lighting up in various degrees. The two toons also seemed to draw the same level of interest, though they kept close to Henry and settled on the animator's opposite side away from the table. However, once they'd sat down, Bendy quickly sought to redirect some of the attention by nearly sticking his notebook in Louie's face, asking the other animator what he thought of his drawing. Louie, to his credit, had recovered faster than Henry did, quietly snatching up the notebook to look closer at the drawing as he gestured for Wally to head into the tiny office to clean up.

"It is wonderful, _cucciolo_! It looks just like him! Here, David, have a look!" Louie praised, handing the small book to the man next to him. David looked over Bendy's drawing, a long-fingered hand gripping the spiral binding as best he could without smearing the drawing. The devil himself looked a little fearful at the sight, though David quickly spoke up.

"Looks great. Can tell you've been learnin' from Henry, kid."

However, instead of handing it back, David passed it to the next man, a newish animator named Roger, who also gave the devil a nugget of praise before handing it on to Gregory. Henry, who had been watching the situation evolve thought about asking them to give it back, but upon seeing how Bendy's expression grew more and more elated with every bit of praise tossed his way, he decided against it. Boris too echoed the lighter feelings, though the wolf stayed riveted to his chair, pulling the devil up to sit on his lap. A few of the animators did not take the notebook, all with their heads down in whatever frames they were working on. Eventually though, it did round the table entirely and make its way over to Henry. The animator registered a faint squeak of dismay from Bendy along with a quiet gasp from Boris, almost making him hand the notebook straight back to the pair before he registered the drawing they'd all been talking about.

It was a picture of Henry himself from the side, the animator bent over a drawing with his gaze concentrated on the easel. The position of the hand looked a little strange and the overall look of the body was a little too out of proportion in comparison to the head, but apart from that it looked good. Great even. A slight flicker of movement out of the corner of Henry's eye caught his attention, the animator glancing over to see Bendy and Boris looking at him with pure anxiety in both their faces. Were they that worried as to what he might think?

"It looks great Bendy. You've got a good eye for this." Admittedly, it wasn't the most enthusiastic, but Bendy's returning wide grin echoed Henry's own smile, the devil beaming up at Boris who peered with equal parts happiness and curiosity at Bendy's eyes, trying to pick out what the animator meant by a 'good eye'.

"It's just a figure of speech Boris." The animator clarified, settling in to draw while handing the notebook back to Bendy. The small devil took it with a beaming smile, quickly going back to scratching away at the paper with his pencil. Strangely enough, even though he didn't get as much work done as he would have liked, Henry didn't find it in him to be too upset. The toons certainly weren't, with Bendy even clambering up onto the table at one point or another to 'help' with a frame or two as everyone chuckled at the overenthusiastic toons, Boris also getting involved at one point or another.

Overall, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.


End file.
